An exciting but uncertain time…

Well what an exciting time we have been having meeting the Royal Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. 

But now we are back to the serious work. 

1 –We have to make sales in the private sector on the strength of the Evolution Garden success at Sandringham. On our Commercial Side – its going to be doubly difficult with the recent Public sector cuts. 

2 – What is going to take up slack in the slight slow down of the public sector works? 

Well personally I have a gut feeling it’s not going to be as bad as we are led to believe. 

I do not think the public sector cuts will have a big enough effect to completely knock the other re-emerging markets other than the public sector that is again kicking off to boost the economy and take up slack.

Last Thursday I was interviewed by Stephen Nowland of BBC 5 Live shortly after he had interviewed the minister on what effects the recent drastic public spending cuts would have on developers and landscapes companies like ourselves who historically have relied on quite a large proportion of their turnover coming from public sector work. He particularly wanted to try to get a feel for how the staff on the ground were dealing with the recent cuts. (Did it make them less confident employment wise??)

I could only give him the view from where I sat, which was that the future looks bright for us. In the history of this company we have never had so many opportunities to tender come through the door. But it would be still very difficult in the interim to bridge the gap to get to the future. In our case we are drawing confidence from the fact we have been doing some high profile projects to expand our exposure to markets other than Government Departments that are becoming more buoyant.

Steve Nowland gave figures on how it has started to improve – this is believed to continue but it is going to be slip back to higher unemployment in the wake of recent public sector cuts.   

See my Interview on Radio 5 Live

 -Roger

Keeping up with the Jones’s and busy Jane’s prolific blogging!

My job as MD is to see the balance is kept between our private sector work and our very credible commercial Department. I used to be paranoid about keeping these two departments separate but when you look at it – what is the difference? For instance, the private sector work can carry to over 100 K where as a British Heritage project such as Grey Friars Tower in Kings Lynn can be a few hundred thousand pound project with even more detailed planting and intricate hard landscaping than some in the private sector. Then there are cross- over projects such as the garden at Milton Road Primary School Cambridge which would be classed as commercial but bossy Jane from our design department in the private sector got totally involved and provided the planting design for their world inspired courtyard garden. Jane chose historic plants from different cultures and countries that feature in the school’s curriculum so that the children could get a feel for what plants different culture’s and historical times used.

But getting away from plant’s and all things landscaping – Principal Designer Steve’s wife has produced a healthy and well mannered baby boy called Benjamin who postponed his arrival just long enough so that his Dad could be introduced to Prince Charles at Sandringham Flower show last week. Benjamin seems to be just like his Dad – at only 2 hours old his hair was already down to the lobe of his ears!

Watering in these Difficult Times

Many of us in this line of business get very distressed to see projects struggling in prolonged drought – where the only solution is to water and keep watering. But even watering can be full of hidden risks. Tree pits dug into clay can easily become sump holes when watered copiously in drought conditions. Clay can easily become compacted in dry weather and then turn anaerobic  in the presence of water logging by being enthusiastically watered through the drought. The problem can become worse when the symptoms of water logging are mistaken for lack of water.

A few days ago I had to travel along the M25 to get to terminal 5 Heathrow to pick up my son who has just returned from a London to Beijing over land trip. One of our large projects, Gunpowder Park just off of junction 26 has toilet facilities and is a wonderful place to walk round and chill out a world away from the hurly burly of the motorway.

This peaceful  park which ironically once was where most of our armaments were built or tested for World War 2 is now over 80 acres of wild grass and flower meadows and like all the best things in life, free!

Because this park was covered by one metre of clay to seal out the past, it was not without its water logging problems which soon became all too evident.

In the corner in front of the main entrance we planted a small grove of walnut trees however on the day of the opening I took a verbal ear-bashing from one of the officials saying that these trees looked short of water and stressed but in actuality the reverse was true - the Walnut trees were waterlogged and we ended up changing them to Alnus which can cope better in waterlogged conditions.

You’ll see in one photo there is a Walnut tree that was left as it was in a slightly dryer place but even that has a job to service all branches when compared to the healthy and happy Alnus grove.

Wouldn’t you like to come out of the recession well ahead of your competitors?  How can you give your sites the “kerb appeal” you need to achieve this?

No doubt you employ experienced people who are both dynamic and dedicated.  The kind of people who want to achieve, who take pride in their sites and win awards, supplying the customer with a well-presented house, built to an energy-efficient standard, with environmentally-friendly heat pumps and solar panels.  And no doubt you strive to help to create the right kind of environment for a community to develop.  This will include pleasant surroundings with good transport links, cycle-ways and green open spaces, with attractive landscaping and well-executed peripheral planting to shield the site from any nearby commercial developments.

The chances are that you will have done your research and recruited a team who are trained in most of the new technologies, and there will be a plethora of good people who are well-versed in the basic skills needed for infrastructure and site work.

However, the final visual impact of a site depends on the planting and layout.  This is where an enthusiastic, experienced and forward-thinking landscaping specialist is required.

So, as the sector emerges from the financial downturn, why should Giles Landscapes be better placed than its competitors to help you achieve your objectives? 

Let’s look at what we did in the last recession, and how we work now:

1. A large proportion of our present team were with us during the last recession, landscaping show houses and public open spaces, and carrying out peripheral  and general planting.
2. Some of these people have now been promoted into senior positions in our management team, with the benefit of all the hands-on experience they gained in the early nineties.
3.  We  had  monthly  meetings  with  our clients’ Site  Sales Managers, Area Managers, Technical Managers and Build Managers, working as a team to  plan site improvements.
4. We have worked on a large number of sites in the East Anglia and the East Midland, a big proportion of which have won National House Building Council awards.
5.  We have our own dedicated design team (Giles Landscapes Design), so we can react quickly if plans need revamping or enhancements are required. The design team is supported by our own landscapers, who carry out these  improvements efficiently and effectively.